The BBC's Cathy Jenkins, in Nairobi"Some eye witnesses say the unrest was nothing to do with religion, and everything to do with hooliganism" real 56k

Friday, 1 December, 2000, 14:55 GMT

More unrest in Nairobi

The Queen of Peace Catholic church was torched

Riots continued for a second day in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, between Muslims and slum dwellers fighting over land.

Reports from the area in the south-east of the city known as South B said two large churches have been set on fire while hundreds of youths fought running battles in the streets.

Police used tear gas against the rioters who were armed with sticks and stones.

A senior clergyman, the Anglican archbishop David Gitari, was injured when he tried to intervene.

"I was appalled by the inactivity of the police. If they represent the government, then the government has failed," the archbishop said at a news conference afterwards.

The disturbances began on Thursday when Muslims pulled down trading stalls which they said were too close to a mosque.

A mosque was then burnt during Thursday's clashes.

At least one person has been killed.

Police fired tear gas to try to end the riot, but a BBC correspondent in Nairobi, Joseph Warungu, says they were powerless in the face of large numbers of people armed with sticks, stones, knives and machetes.

Ownership dispute

Muslim community leaders told our correspondent they had been asking the slum dwellers to move their illegal buildings for the past two years.

They said the land, which is adjacent to a mosque, is theirs, and on Thursday they started removing the structures.

The slum dwellers say they had been settled on the land by the authorities some years ago and they were not going to move.

The police tried to tackle the riot but were overcome by the sheer force of the numbers of slum dwellers armed with crude weapons.